Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

The first examples of the genre of modern short story have appeared first in the West, receiving a great interest from the Arab world in general and from Egypt in particular. As has been done all over the world, many distinguished examples have been produced in this genre. In the same way, this genre has enjoyed a great interest from Iraqi writers and many successful works have been produced by them. The Iraqi literature of short stories, coming under the sway of Egypt and Lebanon first and then the West and the Ottoman, has gotten rid of that sway to slowly lay down its own literary foundations and then bear fruits.
‘Alī al-Sibāī, a contemporary storywriter, is one of the representatives of this genre in Iraq. Possessed of a literary style special to himself, he has so far published eleven books of short story. The topic of this study is the second short story of his book Banāt al-Khāiba (The Daughters of Despair). The book, the first story of which is Farāis bi Thiyāb al-Faraḥ (The Hunters for the Clothes of Joy), is a middle-sized book that consists of forty-seven pages. The short story entitled Suyūf Khashabiyya (The Wooden Swords) contains a plot that extends from the past history of Iraq and the city of Nāṣiriyya in particular to the subsequent times. The story deals with the oppressions that were perpetrated particularly against the women in a certain period in the history of Iraq, i.e. during the rule of Saddam Hussein. The author, who is almost united with the people with whom he co-existed in the story, observed their hardships and despair, describing graphically the oppressions they suffered.